| Joined: | Thu Apr 19th, 2012 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 4435 |
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I was shooting in raw on a D500 body, set to easy comp as suggested. The problem with the day was the sun going in and out behind white clouds. Sods law dictated the birds came closest when the sky was cloudy immediately overhead. This gave three problems...no blue sky background, low contrast and minimal bounced back fill light to lift the shaded underwings.
This was especially true of the big grey bird that caught me unawares. Despite being adjustable in raw, the underwing was too dark to recover without noise.
Shooting with the D500+500mm+1.4tc I was effectively at 1000mm (35mm equivalent) ]. The first bird photo is a full frame totally uncropped image. This obviously makes it harder for me (and maybe the camera) to keep the bird in focus and completely in frame. Several shots had a wing or a tail missing. 😆 So I will next time ditch the TC and see if the success rate goes up.
Having sat down back home I think I am perhaps expecting too many hits. Out of 400 shots I have deleted around 200 due to focus, exposure and missing wings etc. Of the remaining 200 there are half that are almost identical given the birds flight path/style. So I've thinned out another 120 leaving around 80 'unique' frames....some more pleasing than others due to lighting / bird body shape etc. Oh the 80 also includes 20 of the yellowhammer, a buzzard and linnets that were around....so 60 of 400 ain't to bad.
The campsite owner, seeing me taking photos, has said that if I would like to return he is happy for me to bait the adjacent field which he also owns. He says this will bring them even closer ...which would be useful, as I could then try the D850 as well as the D500 without the TC!
But of course that means a 70mile trip to the site which has to be factored in around other day to day activities....to prevent a divorce.
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Eric